Meadowlands

The Meadowlands is a large ecosystem of wetlands along the Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey, a few miles to the west of New York City. The area was forested with Atlantic white cedar before the early Dutch settlers cleared the cedar forests and used dikes to drain the land. The drained tidal lands were used to create meadows of salt hay, and the salt hay was harvested for feed by farmers. Over times, the local resources were totally depleted, with the dike systems breaking down, farming ceasing, and contamination by pollution increasing. Drainage canals and the deepening of the Hackensack River for navigation allowed for salt water to enter the original fresh water and destroy the estuarine environment, altering the ecology. During World War II, military refuse was dumped in the Meadowlands, including rubble from London created by The Blitz and used as ballast in returning ships. After the war, the Meadowlands continued to be used for civilian waste disposal, as the marshes were simply seen was wastelands. In addition to landfill from garbage, landmass generated from dredging was also use to create new land, and some material came from the building of the World Trade Center in the late 1960s. The opening of the New Jersey Turnpike in 1952 amplified the continuing environmental decline of the Meadowlands, and the Meadowlands Sports Complex was built in the late 1960s, housing several stadia and a racetrack. In the 20th century, much of the Meadowlands area was urbanized, and it became known for its large landfills and decades of environmental abuse.